Morocco is a pretty interesting place to travel in that it’s so close to Europe geographically, within sight of Spain on a clear day, and yet it’s so separated politically and culturally as to belong to another world.
Morocco is mostly a safe place to travel though the touts can be persistent and rude when trying to be your tour guide or sell you something you don’t want. Some travellers make the mistake of assuming that these hustlers and taxi drivers are representative of Moroccans and nothing could be further from the truth. You need only get away from the mainstream tourist destinations to meet some of the kindest, warmest people you’ll ever have come across.
Moroccans are, of course, almost all Muslims and that means that hospitality to strangers is embedded in their culture and it’s normal to be invited for tea, or for a stranger to offer to share his food with you on the bus, or to be invited to stay at their houses.
Travellers in Morocco vary from those who want the tourist kitsch of camel rides, guides with turbans and expensive carpets that they will eventually realize is too garish to be displayed in their house, to those who come to smoke hashish in the Rif mountains until they lose all sense of time and overstay their visas.
The main thing to remember is that although those working in tourism have a glimpse of Western culture, for the rest of Morocco travellers are strange creatures and they have a hard time understanding why a woman would ever be travelling alone, let alone wearing shorts. So as much as possible it’s best to respect their culture by covering up, not getting into arguments (they’ll win anyway) and being respectful (but firm when need be) to everyone.
Learning a little bit of essential Arabic doesn’t hurt either.
Some of the most popular places to visit are:
